Horcrux Guilt
by Ifit'sNotBaroque
Summary: Ron and Ginny's first conversation after she finds out he left for a portion of the horcrux hunt. sibling fluff


**Here's another one shot! I decided to write this one because I kind of hate how Ginny's reaction to Ron leaving them is portrayed in fan fiction, because while Ginny is strong-willed, she's also sincere and consistent, so I decided to write what I think would be more consistent with Ginny.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the Weasleys, but I'd love to be a Weasley!**

Ron sat in the yard of the Burrow, pulling apart weeds. Hermione was showering, which left him alone to his thoughts, most particularly regarding his guilt. Whenever he was by Hermione's side, he could usually push this negativity away since she clearly forgave him as evidenced by their blossoming relationship, but whenever she wasn't there, the guilt hit him like a hex. It was times like this that the guilt of leaving Harry and, even more so, Hermione completely overwhelmed him.

"Ron?" he heard Ginny's voice. He ignored her since he figured she was about to yell at him. She sat next to him, "I've been looking for you. I want to talk to you."

"What do you need?" he asked sincerely, but still avoiding eye contact.

Ginny took a deep breath, "Harry told me, um, about the past year. He told me _everything_."

Ron flinched, then said with resignation, "Go on, then. Yell at me, if you must."

"I'm not going to yell at you…" Ginny started slowly, "I—I was just checking…are you alright?"

"Alright?" Ron whispered, pondering the question.

"Yes, are you alright? That must have been awful."

Ron momentarily made eye contact with his sister, "For them, you mean?"

"Well, yes, it was…but I meant for you. It must have been awful for you," Ginny clarified firmly.

"What are you on about? I was such a prat, nothing more to it," he turned away from her.

"There's a lot more to it, actually," Ginny replied, moving to sit in front of him, stepping on his foot to prevent him from turning completely away from her again.

"No there isn't, Ginny. I was a prat, I left, I'm a horrible friend and broke all my promises. It's a miracle they forgave me. I'm still shocked you're not yelling at me."

"Ron, you seem to forget that it was me five years ago…"

"That's different," Ron quickly replied.

"No, it isn't." When Ron still sat there looking guilty, Ginny yelled, "we were both under the control of a horcrux!"

Ron flinched again. His resolve was down, but he continued to contradict her, "I was aware of it though. You weren't. You were only eleven; you had no way of knowing."

"Stop claiming I was innocent and you are guilty; those are mutually exclusive claims," Ginny insisted.

"No—"

"Ron, let me be here for you!" Ron looked surprised that she was raising her voice again. Ginny shrugged, "you told me to yell at you."

Ron chuckled, "So you aren't mad at me?"

"Not at all. It shouldn't have happened, but neither should have anything my first year at Hogwarts. Eventually you need to let it go."

"How did you move forward?" Ron asked.

"Leaning on my friends. Hermione helped a lot."

"You didn't become friends with her until—"

"A couple years later, I know."

"But you didn't…you didn't seem like you were…" Ron trailed off at a loss for words.

"I didn't want to burden anyone," Ginny admitted.

"Ginny, you're never a burden! And I can't imagine going through what you went through. He was controlling you and made you do awful things; of course you would need to work through that. You _always_ could have come to me; you know that!"

"And I'm here to tell you the same thing," Ginny replied with a smug grin.

"You're…what?"

"I'm here for you, as I said. And so are Harry and Hermione. And Neville and Luna, too. And our family. But if you don't want to tell many people, then Hermione, Harry, and I are here for you. And I'm sure Bill and Fleur will be too. You can't get past this alone."

"Mum and dad will have to find out eventually…they'll be so disappointed," Ron lamented.

"And I'll be there with you to tell them they shouldn't be. I sort of get what you went through and whenever you're ready to talk about it, I'm here for you. And I'm here to defend you to mum and dad."

Ron finally smiled, "I'm not ready to really talk about it yet, but this was a good start…and when I'm ready, I do think I'll come to you. I'm sorry your pain lasted so long."

"It was my own fault, so I'm here to make sure you don't make the same mistake."

Ron pulled Ginny into a hug, "Thanks Ginny. I'm glad to have you as my sister."

Ginny hugged back tightly, "I'm glad you're my brother too, Ron. You ready to go inside?"

Ron stood and helped Ginny up, "Not really, but we probably should head in." The siblings walked into the house, Ron's arm was loosely draped over Ginny's shoulders. When they got inside, Harry gave them a confused look and both siblings smiled at him to assure him that they were alright.

 **Hope you enjoyed!**


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